Guide to Gold and Buried Treasure: Treasure Mountain, Colorado Part 2

About a group of French miners int he San Juan Mountains of Colorado who buried gold there, information and history of the search for the lost treasure.

OBSCURE CACHES: II

Treasure Mountain, Colorado

Previous Searches. In 1842 Remy Ledoux's grandson, who had a map which he said came from his grandfather, organized an expedition of 40 men to search for the buried gold. The map, unfortunately, wasn't drawn to scale, and all the mountains in the San Juan range looked alike to the new party. Worse, Grand-pere Ledoux seems to have included false landmarks to throw off interlopers. The search party did find a fleur-de-lis scratched on a rock with an arrow underneath it, and they searched for days nearby. No luck.

Young Ledoux returned the following spring to continue his quest, but drowned in the process. His body was recovered by a William Yule, who many years later--while drinking--admitted he had Ledoux's map.

Another man--Asa Poor--obtained this map, and eventually claimed that he had deciphered an inscription in one corner. Supposedly this said: "Stand on grave at foot of mountain at 6 on a September morning, face east, where the shadow of your head falls you'll find the gold."

Although these directions seem a little strange--your shadow falls the same way whether you face east, west, or stand on your head--Poor said that he found a grave that fitted the map's description, and nearby he found a sealed shaft which seemed to be a worked-out gold mine. Snowslides and avalanches have greatly changed the mountainside, and no traces have been found of the hidden gold.

How to Get There. Treasure Mountain is located in the San Juan Mountains of south-western Colorado, in Rio Grande County, between Summitville and Wolf Creek Pass. It's about 100 mi. east and a little north of Durango, the nearest sizable town, off Highway 160.